Nothing symbolised Collingwood's plight more than the pro-Magpies crowd booing as the players left the field at halftime.

Collingwood kicked three goals in the opening three minutes of the third term to regain the lead, but the young Giants did not give in, with Cameron kicking two goals in the term.

His second goal of the quarter was a beauty. With Keeffe pressuring him, Cameron calmly tapped the ball ahead, hugging the boundary line before leaving Keeffe in his wake and goaling on the run.

GWS regained the lead 19 minutes into the term, but a goal to Jamie Elliott two minutes later meant the Magpies were in front at the last change.

The Magpies kicked six goals to nil in the last quarter as the lead stretched out to 40 points, but after last week’s loss to Gold Coast there is plenty for the club to work on in the lead in to finals.

Buckley said the Pies' first half was as bad as they have played this season.

"We were minus 17 in contested ball so it was really poor," he said. "You've got to give credit to the young players of GWS … our work rate improved in the second half and we were a lot better after that.

"We're not playing our best footy. We need to go up a couple of rungs. We're under no illusions about that."

Sheedy was disappointed with the result but pleased with his side's development.

"The boys were very committed and it was probably one of our better performances on the MCG, not that we've played here a lot," he said.

"Our contested ball we were pretty good at, we moved the ball quite well, our kicking early was very, very good and some of our players were very courageous today, going for some balls that probably a lot of players might not have gone for over the years that I've coached."

Jeremy Cameron kicks one of his seven goals during his scintillating display. Picture: AFL Media